Super Bowl XLVII: 49ers can cap big year for Bay Area

By AL SARACEVIC, San Francisco Chronicle

Monday, January 28, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO — Imagine the Super Bowl and the run-up to Mardi Gras happening at the same time, then stop imagining. It’s a reality.

Amid this madness, the San Francisco 49ers hope to file the latest chapter in Bay Area sports history. The plot has gotten pretty complicated of late. In the past year, we’ve witnessed two NFC Championship Games. A Final Four for Stanford women’s basketball. We watched the U.S. Open pitch its massive tents at the Olympic Club. The America’s Cup paid a visit. Then we followed the Oakland A’s into the playoffs and the San Francisco Giants to a World Series championship. Throw in two major bowl appearances for Stanford, including its first Rose Bowl win in 41 years, and you have the whole story.

There has never been a time quite like this in Bay Area sports. Everyone’s winning (with a few notable exceptions). And standing at the center of the storm are the 49ers. If they deliver. If San Francisco lays claim to world championships in baseball and football, then we can say this is truly the Golden Age of Bay Area sports.

So, enjoy the Super Bowl this week, clowns and beads and all. It could be the apex of this remarkable time.

PROP BETS: Nothing says Super Bowl like “prop bets.”

These are the ridiculous wagers that inhabit the lunatic fringe of the game, allowing people to drop money on any number of ludicrous propositions.

How long will it take Alicia Keys to sing the national anthem? You can bet whether it’ll be over or under 2 minutes, 15 seconds, according to the betting agency Bovada.

Will Beyonce be joined by Jay-Z during the Super Bowl halftime show? It’s 2-to-3 he won’t show.

Can you really bet on this stuff? Yup. That doesn’t even scratch the surface.

You can bet on how long the postgame hug/handshake will last between the two “Har-bros.” The over-under is 7.5 seconds.

And if you’re looking for a more spiritual angle, gamble on how many times Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis will mention the Lord in his postgame interview. The over-under is three.

Take the over.KAEPERNICK-MANIA: Adam Meyer is one of the country’s best-known handicappers. He bet $1 million on the 49ers to get to the Super Bowl last year. And he lost. But don’t hold that against him. He’s back in the game, saying he could win up to $4.5 million on a complicated Super Bowl hedge that involves the Ravens winning.

That’s for him to sweat. He has a more interesting take on this.

According to Meyer, Colin Kaepernick has the most prop bets since William “the Refrigerator” Perry roamed the backfield of the 1985 Chicago Bears. In other words, his fame and popularity are soaring.

People are dropping big money on the lanky kid from Turlock. Meyer says one intriguing bet is whether Kaepernick will compile 100 yards rushing and 300 passing in the big game. Fat chance, says the insider.

“There’s no way Kaepernick will do that against the Baltimore defense,” said Meyer.

Meyer also suggests you might want to bet Aldon Smith will get a sack. He’s been shut down for weeks, but the handicapper thinks he’ll come through in the Super Bowl.

And if you insist on the goofy, find out whether Keys will play the piano during the national anthem.

“Years ago, I had info that Billy Joel would play the piano,” said Meyer. “That made it longer.”